On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 12:12 PM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote:
See: > > > http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/world-without-work/395294/ > I like the optimistic possibility Derek Thomson, the author, presents of a gradual increase in the amount of time that might become available to people to pursue their interests. He does not sugar-coat things and includes a discussion of some of the potential downsides, including increasing financial insecurity and the negative psychological impact and negative impact on communities where which a number of people have been left without work. One thing Thomson does not touch on is the grave risk to democracy that would come with the fantastic concentration of wealth that would arise in a world in which automation leads to the elimination of a lot of present-day jobs. In the US we're already seeing distortions in the democratic process that come from all of the money being funneled into so-called "super PACs" (political action committees). On our present course we will arrive before long at a "one dollar, one vote" democracy, not unlike that exercised by shareholders in a company. In that future Bill Gates will have far more sway over government policy and programs than the many individuals forced into underemployment as their hours are cut back or their jobs are made redundant. He may have noble goals in mind, but it would be his goals that would be pursued by government and not yours. At the present time Americans and others live in democracies nominally premised upon the principle of "one person, one vote," but I don't think we'll be able to sustain that self-understanding indefinitely in the face of the kind of future proposed in the article. And it is hard to imagine people giving back the political power they will have amassed with much enthusiasm. Eric
